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‘I'm not kidding. I was talking to Russian space guys and they said, “yeah, from time-to-time there are viruses on the space station”,’ Mr Kaspersky said.

The ISS’ control systems used to operate on Windows XP before moving over to Linux.

Mr Kaspersky did not provide details on how badly the virus affected ISS operations or how the problem was dealt with by the engineering crew

STUXNET: 'THE WORLD'S FIRST CYBER SUPER WEAPON'

The ’Stuxnet’ worm, discovered in June 2010, brought home the reality of the danger posed by cyber crime.

Named the world’s ’first cyber super weapon’, Stuxnet was thought to be designed for attacking equipment associated with Iran’s Bushehr power plant.

The worm was widely reported as being from a government agency or well-funded source and could target control systems used to manage oil rigs, water supplies and power plants, signalling a new age in cyber warfare.

Like the virus unleashed on the International Space Station, Stuxnet did not require an internet connection to hack into computers.

This mean that astronauts who used Windows programs on Earth could have brought a virus onto the ISS via a USB stick.

Mr Kaspersky did not provide details on how badly the virus affected ISS operations or how the problem was dealt with by the engineering crew.

According to a report on ExtremeTech, in 2008 a Windows XP laptop was brought onto the ISS by a Russian astronaut infected with the W32.Gammima.AG worm.

This rapidly spread to other laptops on the spacecraft which were running Windows XP.

Mr Kaspersky said this highlights the threat of cyber attacks even when a system isn't connected to the internet.

Systems that are not connected the internet are normally considered secure as a hacker would require physical contact with the computer.

Mr Kaspersky noted another example of the infamous Stuxnet virus which attacked a nuclear power plant in Russia– also disconnected from the internet - and badly damaged their internal infrastructure.

The ’Stuxnet’ worm, discovered in June 2010, brought home the reality of the danger posed by cyber crime.

Named the world’s ’first cyber super weapon’, Stuxnet was thought to be designed for attacking equipment associated with Iran’s Bushehr power plant.

Mr Kaspersky warned of the repercussions for releasing viruses such as Stuxnet.

‘What goes around comes around,’ he said. ‘Everything you do will boomerang.’

Named the world's 'first cyber super weapon', Stuxnet was thought to be designed for attacking equipment associated with Iran¿s Bushehr power plant